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Be organized. If you stay organized, you will surely have all your materials and be prepared to complete all your assignments and get a good grade. Organizing is one of the basic keys to school success, so be sure to keep your locker and everything you need to be organized, though some middle schools do not have lockers.

Take good notes, focus your attention on the teacher, and following directions. If you follow directions, you will succeed when you learn. If you don't follow directions, you'll have a hard time learning and be being successful.

Study, study, study! Studying helps you retain knowledge. If you know information from previous years, the school will be easier to deal with than you might think. Review all the key points in every subject that you had, and study a little bit more for tests. Try to study for about an hour, beginning a couple nights before your test. Never cram your study time, but instead plan your studying period several days beforehand. That way, you'll be prepared with less stress.

Sleep more. If you can't sleep, see tips on sleeping better. Sleeping will give your mind a rest, making you energetic when school starts. Always get at least 8-10 hours of sleep during your pre-adolescent and adolescent years. Good sleep habits will help you in the long run. It's a good idea to wake up at least an hour earlier than when you have to leave for school. Most 11-year-old girls need about 10 hours of sleep to look, feel and BE their best. So remember to have a nice long sleep before you go to school each day (e.g. If you have to wake up at 6 a.m., you should try to be in bed by 8 p.m.).

Eat a healthy breakfast. Eating healthy things will improve your listening capability to the teachers and will make you ready to go. Make sure to eat protein like eggs or bacon over sugary foods. The sugar will perk you up in the short term, but you will then crash, causing it to be more difficult for you to concentrate.

Ask questions when you are confused. The teacher most likely wants to answer any questions you have about what they teach. If you are too embarrassed to ask in class, (which you shouldn't be), ask the teacher in private, such as after school. You can't learn anything if you don't understand it. Usually when they talk about something you don't understand, and you don't ask about it, it'll lower your grade when you miss those questions on the test. Teachers are there to help you learn, not intimidate you.

Respect others. Be respectful to your peers and teachers. If you do, people will respect you more and you will likely never get in trouble. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you make a good impression at the beginning of the year, the teacher will believe and trust you if you are accused of something. Don't think that that means you can get out of trouble you cause though!

Make friends! It's especially important in middle school to make some really good friends. They're your support group and your lifeline in middle school. If you have good friends, they'll be able to support you all through middle school and help you to achieve your very best.

Don't bring phone or other electronics unless you can stay focused with it, it can distract you easily. Don't text in class, it can get you in a lot of trouble, or even get your phone taken away. Only use or have out your phone and other electronics when you have permission from a teacher to do so. Remember that it can be disrespectful to the teachers if you have it out behind their back. If you do have your phone or other electronics with you, keep it on silent. It can detract your peers from learning and interrupt the teacher's teaching if your electronic goes off in the middle of class.

Start studying in advance. Begin studying for a normal test or quiz two weeks in advance or as soon as possible, and for midterms and finals (if you have them in middle school) start studying six weeks ahead.

Tips

When you're absent from class for more than one day at a time, get makeup work and study from your textbooks, copy any notes your friends may have taken, ask your teacher for extra help and get with one of your classmates to come over after school or meet you somewhere quiet (such as the library) to explain the material to you.

When you don't fully understand something, stay after school to get extra work or to have certain concepts explained to you. Never stay after class unless you have a free period or study hall because when you are late to your next class, it not only upsets the teacher but makes you fall behind in whatever they learned or completed while you weren't there.

Ask the teacher about papers you should keep or toss. They will know if you will need it again for reference, or if it is no longer needed. If it is not needed, or no longer needed, throw it out to stay organized.

Its always important when you eat breakfast in the mornings when you have a test. Certain foods can help you success, while others can bring you down. The night before, eat carbohydrates and drink lots of liquids. On the morning of the big test, eat a large amount of proteins. This should help you out a lot.

Make copies of your homework, and put them in a special folder. That way, if you forget your homework, you have a backup. Make sure you label the due date on the homework. Alternatively, write all your assignments on a notecard, so you remember that you have some assignments due. This will aid you with your studies.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 54 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 90,572 times.